Is active speaker the future?

We of the curmudgeon and proud of it persuasion probably will not give up our separates in our stereos, but HT is the area that really matters for most folks. I too cain't wait to get rid of the wires and the mess and the bother in my own HT. Soon we will simply set the stuff down and it will adjust itself (or yell to be moved to a better location). No Wires no bother. You bet!

In one respect, they are the present. Check out the speakers hooked to your PC or Mac. However, I'm assuming that this isn't the part of the speaker market to which you refer:

Active, digitally corrected speakers from companies like B&O and Lyngdorff probably represent one of the few opportunities to get measurable benefits (i.e. flat in-room FR) from a big dollar speaker purchase. In this respect, they are IMHO actually a better mousetrap. However, it seems that most people spending this kind of $ on speakers (or at least the ones w/virtual systems posted on Audiogon) aren't convinced by this type of measureable benefit. It's just not the main focus for most audio hobbyists. Since I suspect that big $ purchases will come disproportionately from hobbyists, the answer to your question is no, it is unlikely that active speakers are the future.

They may be - in certain ways - measurably better, but for most people they're simply less fun.
Marty

I was very interested in active pro speakers and got a pair of Mackie ($1200 for the pair) . It is not that bad but could not beat an Arcam reciever biamping Harbeth M30. It did play louder with good control but transparency was poor. It was missing a lot of texture and subtle spatial clues. I could not hear the benefit of this approach. It is an uneven match up in terms of cost, ATC 20 would be more on even ground

S.G.R.

Active done properly.

Glai wrote: "I could not hear the benefit of this approach. "

It would be hard to attribute any audible differences to the difference between active and passive speakers since the speakers, themselves are so different. A better test would be with a pairs of PMC or ATC speakers where the identical speaker is available in both configurations.

Kal